Soccer is very important in the countries we came from, both a sport and a
social thing, and the games bring us together.

"All Hamptons Read 2013," a four-town collaborative reading project, will launch with a 'Hamptons' United' Soccer Tournament, beginning at 11 a.m. on Sept. 15 at Northampton High School. The winning team in the tournament, organized with the help of a U.S. Marine, born in El Salvador, and now living in Amherst, will be awarded the Hamptons United Cup.

Victor Nunez Ortiz, who became a U.S. citizen after a tour in Iraq as a U.S. Marine
Corps Combat Engineer, envisions the tournament, in conjunction with the new collaboration, as a way for Pioneer Valley immigrants to be more involved and accepted.

"Soccer is very important in the countries we came from, both a sport and a
social thing, and the games bring us together," said Nunez Ortiz, who came to the U.S. as a war refugee at the age of 7. "The groups hosting this tournament, and making it part of 'National Welcoming Week,' are helping us to see we have support and we are part of the larger community around us."

The players on the six participating teams immigrated to the Pioneer Valley from different countries in Latin America and and are from a league of such teams. The tournament is part of "National Welcoming Week" for recent immigrants, and is co-sponsored by the Center for New Americans, a Northampton-based non-profit that serves this population.

According to a release from Forbes Library, a reading project and soccer tournament came together through the collaboration of public libraries, in Northampton, Easthampton, Southampton and Westhampton, in assigning a book about immigration and soccer.

Each library designated "Outcasts United: An American Town, A Refugee Team and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference," a book about both soccer and the challenges of immigration for its town to read this fall. The non-fiction bestseller is by New York Times reporter Warren St. John.

Nunez Ortiz suggested to the organizing committee of "All Hamptons Read" that the project host a tournament when he heard about the it and the desire for a related activity.

Single elimination contests will launch the tournament on the stadium field and the practice field behind the high school at 380 Elm St. in Northamtpon. The final game is scheduled to begin about 3 p.m., with closing ceremonies and the awarding of the gold cup about 4:30 p.m. Admission to the games is free, and the organizers are providing supervised activities for elementary school aged children. Related organizations have been invited to set up resource and information tables.

The tournament is one of a number of other project-related events that comprise the Hampton libraries first community read collaboration. The project also will hold public book discussions, a film series, presentations by immigrants in high school classrooms, and a panel of New Americans sharing their stories and discussing immigration issues.

"This year's four-town-wide All Hamptons Read program is both a celebration
of reading, and a vehicle to get us thinking about, and discussing, important
and timely issues to do with refugees, the impact of immigration, and how we
can build stronger communities that are inclusive to all," said Nancy Felton, of Broadside Bookshop and the project's chairwoman, in the release.

Fiscal sponsors of the project include Florence Savings Bank, Easthampton
Savings Bank, the Friends of the library organizations in the participating towns, and two Northampton restaurants, Bueno y Sano, and Sylvester's.